We're getting upset over some pretty petty stuff here. So what if he doesn't attend a dinner, or if he snubs Buzzfeed and CNN at a press conference? I don't want you to think I'm picking on you here, cthskzfn but come on... how does this change anyone's life? Some feelings were hurt in the press. They will whine about it for a few days and then life goes on. Besides, you told me yourself that you haven't followed CNN in over 10 years.

We're getting upset over some pretty petty stuff here. So what if he doesn't attend a dinner, or if he snubs Buzzfeed and CNN at a press conference? I don't want you to think I'm picking on you here, cthskzfn but come on... how does this change anyone's life? Some feelings were hurt in the press. They will whine about it for a few days and then life goes on. Besides, you told me yourself that you haven't followed CNN in over 10 years.

I have to agree with you. More pressing issues to attend to rather than a dinner. It's not like he was playing golf and decided not to attend General Greenes funeral. That was uncalled for...imo

We're getting upset over some pretty petty stuff here. So what if he doesn't attend a dinner, or if he snubs Buzzfeed and CNN at a press conference? I don't want you to think I'm picking on you here, cthskzfn but come on... how does this change anyone's life? Some feelings were hurt in the press. They will whine about it for a few days and then life goes on. Besides, you told me yourself that you haven't followed CNN in over 10 years.

i haven't. when i googled that the Pussy-in-Chief was too scared to attend the dinner, several links popped up. i chose this one.

Yeah, what we really need is a symbolic dinner to remind us how the major media outlets are in bed with the politicians.

StevenHW wrote:

- 04/30/13 9:39 am

Just once, I want to see a President and the entire White House staff who would completely boycott all of these dinners completely.

jammerbirdi wrote:

- 05/04/16 4:51 pm

Okay, so, the CNN commentator Van Jones, formerly of the Obama administration, said two things on Jake Tapper's show this afternoon.

One... I completely agree with... and I thought was a good piece of commentary.

The second thing he said, made me sick. Figuratively speaking.

And he directed this at the The Weekly Standard's William Kristol. I think this pretty much exemplifies what I find and have always found MOST reprehensible about the political class in this country.

"I want to say something... complimenting you (Bill Kristol) for once in my career. I do think there is a difference between what in Europe they would call the clean Right and the dirty Right. You and I have disagreed on many things but you've never trafficked in violence, you've never trafficked in nasty racial appeals. We just don't agree on stuff.

There's a dirty Right that's growing in Europe and it's now growing inside the United States that actually traffics in political violence, which we haven't seen in this country for decades, and traffics in the kinds of racial appeals, not dog-whistles, but megaphones, that I think is very dangerous.

I don't know if you have the right tactics or the right strategy, but I think that those people who have built a conservative movement that had to be respected... we had respect... meaning the Democratic Party... Obama was a response to the fact that they had built something coherent and powerful and smart and we had to respond.

This is something that is very very disturbing for the entire political class and those conservatives who stick to their principles will be rewarded in the long term. "

This is so fucked up it's hard to even believe that he could sit next to a William Kristol and actually say it.

The machinery of white supremacy, the REAL white supremacy, is the effectiveness of the Republican Party and the power of this 'clean' Right wing conservatism that is personified by the Willam Kristols of the world.

The idea now promoted by Van Jones, that this movement that is occurring should find, as it would IMO, that there is racism and intolerance and ignorance beating in the hearts of the less privileged among us, that that element of the equation as it exists in people who have been left behind and turned out and sold out economically by the elite classes in this country... that THOSE people are the real problem right now... that they are rising... that they have a candidate they believe in... when it is the system that has literally created them, their economic and educational horizons, the same system that enriches these elites, pampers them, educates and prepares their children to be the next generation in what is an elite dynasty here in this country... that is really hard to swallow coming from a former Obama administration member.

You know... I'm always stimulated and riled by the White House Correspondent's Dinner. Well, sometimes, it's been a dud with me. But this time it was like old times. Simultaneously stimulated and outraged and infected with the 'vibe' of DC in the springtime. (the only times I've ever been there) But NEVER more so than this last one this past weekend.

And I've had this thought before but maybe it has become clearer to me.

But you can't blame one side of the political aisle for our country not living up to so many promises. Failing to shake off special interests. Failing to protect the most vulnerable. Failing to educate the children of the poor. Failing to right the many many wrongs we all know plague our country. You can't BLAME one side of the political spectrum for those things... and then sit down with them, indistinguishable from them, in your finery and tuxes and glittering gowns. Eating duck confit and sipping champagne and having a laugh.

You COULDN'T DO THAT! If it was just the people on the other side of the political spectrum who were responsible for such suffering and failure. You just couldn't. You couldn't sit down with them. If you KNEW it was them and only them who were responsible for all the failures of our national politics and the miserable scope and reach of what our governmental institutions were able to accomplish.

YOU COULD NOT SIT THERE WITH THEM LIKE THAT.

The ONLY way you can. The only reason you can sit there in your tuxes and gowns with the most powerful conservative and Republican Party members and luminaries... is if you KNOW.... that it is NOT. JUST. THEM. Who is responsible for the failures of our political system.

You KNOW something else. And that is that it's all of you. And it always has been. IT's always been both parties. Both sides of the political pundit class. Both the Washington Post and the Washington Times. Fox and CNN. The Political Class. The Elites. They're all in it together.

He couldn't even do the Al Smith dinner right. The punk avoided self-deprecation, took a cheapshot at his wife, and attacked Hillary, instead of delivering light-hearted roasting. Its probably best that he avoids these dinners as he knows the Secret Service will not protect him from Alec Baldwin and Melissa McCarthy.

Its just too bad that Warren and Faye weren't the ones reading the final Electoral College results.

Putting Alec Baldwin in a monkey suit and impersonating our sitting President like a clown would only backfire on the left and turn more people against them because it would expose their agenda to everyone who sees that on TV. Even more so than the Oscars when karma bit them at the end of the show.

If our sitting president wasn't a total clown to begin with it probably would. But Herr Cheeto is so despised and terrible at his job that SNL is in the middle of a ratings boom. James Buchanan is probably pretty excited to know that he will soon be off the bottom of the president rankings.

James Buchanan is probably pretty excited to know that he will soon be off the bottom of the president rankings.

I sincerely hope you are wrong on this point. Buchanan couldn't meet the standard of "The country survived his term intact", which is the absolute lowest expectation we have for a chief executive.

_________________Is the relinquishment of the trial by jury and the liberty of the press necessary for your liberty? Will the abandonment of your most sacred rights tend to the security of your liberty? Liberty, the greatest of all earthly blessings—give us that precious jewel, and you may take every thing else!… Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel.

James Buchanan is probably pretty excited to know that he will soon be off the bottom of the president rankings.

I sincerely hope you are wrong on this point. Buchanan couldn't meet the standard of "The country survived his term intact", which is the absolute lowest expectation we have for a chief executive.

I would agree, but I am not holding my breath. I have a feeling that future historians will consider all the repeals of environmental protections as not meeting this standard.

This is along my lines of thinking as well. I was in a regular monthly status meeting last week, going over all of our active projects in the program in which I work. And I was struck (i.e. given to spikes in anxiety) by how many of our projects currently depend on the work of other federal agencies to proceed. Agencies like the EPA, Fish & Wildlife, National Park Service. It's all well and good for them to increase the DOD budget, but any increase usually requires an attendant increase or upgrade in facilities. And without the assistance of those other agencies so that we can comply with the law many, many of our projects will grind to a halt.

I just see no larger recognition for how integrated the functions of the federal government are. Yeah, you can gut the EPA. But NEPA is still on the books, and we're still required by Federal Regulation to comply with it. Which requires consultation with the EPA, etc. on how we plan to comply with the law before we proceed (as an example). It doesn't matter how much money you give us. Other agency buy-in was already a choke point.

And even besides that there were so many other instances of coordination with other agencies, or doing projects for other agencies, that there's a ton of uncertainty throughout the Federal Government including DOD about how to execute our work because of the attack on systems that no one seems to think do anything, that my colleagues and me rely on every day.

And even besides that there were so many other instances of coordination with other agencies, or doing projects for other agencies, that there's a ton of uncertainty throughout the Federal Government including DOD about how to execute our work because of the attack on systems that no one seems to think do anything, that my colleagues and me rely on every day.

Excellent points.

This web/framework of interdependence--like it or not--IS currently necessary: It is how a nation of 300+ million people, spread thousands of miles apart, and embracing umpteen subcultures and divergent languages, maintains a unity that serves all.

Is government too top-heavy? Might smaller be better? Maybe. But if your jenga tower has become too cumbersome, beware the consequence of pulling out the wrong parts. There are seldom quick 'n easy fixes, and damages can be irreparable.

But. Regarding the OP? I don't blame him for not attending....it really would be way more than his ego could handle. And, it'll be more fun to watch his twitter light up while he's watching it on TV.